The Guidance Counselor

Sapphic

Lauren sat alone in the Hamilton's living room, Andrea had gone to the kitchen to make tea, meanwhile Derrick was in his office on the phone with his friend back in Texas, a lawyer that dealt with Family Law, and Dinah and Normani were upstairs in one of the bedrooms with Camila, trying to calm her while also trying to clean up the cut and impending bruise on the side of her face that was covering over the same spot as the previous. Lauren wanted to escape, run upstairs and hold Camila, tell her she loved her and that everything would be okay, but Andrea returned before she could make a move or even think twice about what she really wanted to do. 

"I hope green tea is okay," Andrea said as she set down a mug on the coffee table in front of Lauren. "It's all we have, apparently Normani drank the last orange pekoe and didn't tell me. Again."

Lauren let out a small laugh and nodded her head. "Green tea is just fine, thank you," she said politely as she picked up the mug, her fingers playing idly with the string on the teabag. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Lauren asked before taking a sip and setting the mug back down on the table. 

"What's going on between you and Camila?" Andrea asked seriously, her eyebrows raised and Lauren couldn't help but notice how much it reminded her of when Normani had shown up at her house earlier in the day. 

'She gets right to the point, doesn't she?'  Lauren thought to herself, she swallowed and took a breath, really Lauren had two options, she could come clean or she could deny. She decided to go with the latter. "Nothing, I just saw what was happening earlier an-"

"A Mother always knows," Andrea mused with a small smile. "That wasn't nothing out there, between the two of you. Camila's entire demeanor changed the minute she heard your voice and she clung to you as if you were some sort of security blanket," Andrea leaned back into her chair, arms folded neatly across her chest. "And you're a great girl Lauren, brilliant from what your own Mother has told me, but you suck at lying, like really, really suck at it. You couldn't have moved fast enough in order to get to Camila on that porch, it was as if your life depended on it."

"Mrs. Hamilton, I don't really know what kind of a reaction or answer it is that you're looking for," Lauren said with a small shrug. "Camila and I are just friends, new friends really, I helped Normani and Dinah move her into the room upstairs on Friday afternoon."

"So there's nothing going on between yourself and Camila?"

"No ma'am, there is nothing going on between Camila and I," Lauren lied. "I'm part of the staff at her school and-"

"Your job is temporary," Andrea said with laugh. "Your Mother already told me that. She also told me that you don't have a boyfriend, for reasons of a sapphic nature."

"My Mother told you I was a lesbian?" Lauren questioned and when Andrea nodded her head, Lauren sighed. "That really wasn't her place," she said with a small frown. "My personal life doesn't have anything to do with my job or-"

"Of course not, but it has a lot to do with your relationship with Camila," Andrea said quickly. Lauren watched the woman stand up from her chair and pick her mug as well as Lauren's up off the table. "As I said before, you are not a great liar Lauren, but you are good person and Camila could use as many good people in her life as she can get. I will tell you what, I'm going to pretend, for your sake and Camila's that I didn't see what it is that transpired between you two outside, I'm going to pretend that you didn't look at Camila with the same love in your eyes that my husband looks at me with. I am a Mama Bear though Lauren, I am nothing like Sinu. Your Mother and I may be on our way to forming a wonderful friendship, but if you hurt that girl upstairs, nothing, not even your Mother will be able to save you from my wrath. Is that clear?"